Rangers ‘leaning towards’ placing Adrian Beltre on DL

The strained left quad that has kept Adrian Beltre out of the lineup the past three games is likely going to land him on the disabled list.

Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said the team is leaning towards putting their star third baseman on the DL, going with a more cautious route than aggressive this early in the season.

“It’s a tough thing, you see a game like last night and you’re dying to have his bat in there,” Daniels said. “But the last thing you want is for him to grab onto it again and then he’s down for 2-3 months instead of 2-3 weeks.”

Beltre avoided the DL last season after spending more than a month on it in 2011 because of a left hamstring strain. Beltre tried to return too soon from the hamstring injury, which led to the lengthy DL stint.

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Beltre went through a basic workout before batting practice Saturday afternoon, fielding grounders, hitting off a tee and jogging. The plan is for him to continue ramping it up in the coming days and the Rangers will make a decision by Sunday or Monday.

“It’s better,” Beltre said. “It’s not a tweak, it’s a tear. The MRI showed a Grade 1 strian, so the thing is I’m not familiar with this quad stuff. I’m trying to see if it’s going to be a couple days. I’m trying to avoid a DL, but at the same time, I don’t want to do something to make it worse.”

Beltre was batting .286 with four RBIs before exiting Tuesday’s game in Boston with the injury.